MINDFULNESS PROGRAMS WITH DR. KATHRYN MAXWELLDr. Kathy Maxwell leads stress management, mindfulness meditation, and mindful moving yoga classes for leaders of all ages. A Registered Nurse, Kathy earned graduate degrees in both Nursing and Health Education and holds a Doctor of Education degree from Penn State University. A Certified Health Education Specialist, she has taught kinesiology, stress management, and yoga in university programs, healthcare organizations, and community centers.

Dr. Maxwell completed the University of Pennsylvania Health System's Penn Program for Mindfulness. The program teaches participants to manage difficulty and stress, reduce depression and anxiety, cope with trauma and loss, increase focus and mental clarity, improve communication in relationships, and find purpose, meaning, and beauty in life.

ABOUT MINDFULNESS MEDITATION:By paying attention to what's going on around us, instead of operating on auto-pilot, leading mindfulness researcher Ellen Langer says we can reduce stress, unlock creativity, and boost performance. Neuroscience researchers report that mindfulness meditation can help by "cultivating a less emotionally-reactive awareness to emotions, thoughts and sensations occurring in the present moment, preventing them from spiraling out of control and creating mental distress." Medical researchers, in a meta-analysis of 47 clinical trials, concluded that mindfulness and meditation programs could help reduce anxiety, depression, and pain in some clinical populations. Management and leadership researchers report that mindfulness meditation - consciously attending to one's moment-to-moment experience - can help improve concentration and awareness of one's thinking, decision-making processes, and listening skills.

Sources: "Mindfulness in the Age of Complexity." Interview with Ellen Langer. Harvard Business Review, March 2014, 68-73.